Thursday, January 24, 2013

Spinning Projects: Pink Merino

Here's a spinning project that I tried hard to finish before we left in September.  I had to pass it on to my mom to finish.  Good thing she's taken up spinning too!  It's been really fun to learn this new craft together.  My sister, on the other hand, is not the crafty type.  She's been dragged through many a hobby store, sometimes patiently and sometimes not.  At least she's figured out how to benefit from it - casually mention you'd like a hat made out of such-and-such yarn, a quilt made out of such-and-such fabric, etc.  My mom and I are always looking for excuses to take on new projects!

Anyway, she was a good sport when we dragged her along to that fiber farm back in the spring.  She picked out a bright pink 8oz merino roving and asked for someone to make her some slippers.  The plan was for me to spin it and my mom to knit the slippers.  I got so far as to spin one spool-full, experiment using a ball-winder to make a center-pull ball, spin a 2-ply yarn using the ball (one strand from the middle, one strand from the outside), and spin another spool-full of singles.  Here are a few more photos of that process.

If you tape the inside strand to the top of the ball-winder
before you begin, it will be easy to find later.
Using the ball-winder and my mom's new lazy kate


Plying using the center-pull ball
Taking one strand from the inside and one from the outside
Yes I brought my spinning wheel camping.
And yes I'm wearing socks with flip-flops...

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